lighting for night shots

K

kenji

Active member
hello everyone im writing to you from cold japan . in march we will be shooting a breakdancing video outdoors at night .can you please tell me how would you light that scene and how many lights will i need thank you for your time . kenji
 
yo kenji can u pls detail where is your location? coz i know breakdancers love empty warehouses and what ur settings like?
 
hi thanks for the reply . we will be shooting at nagai park it has a big staduim and lots os space. also we will be using electric generators couse no power plugs there but there will be some lights from the street lights . and we want to shoot in 24p. your right those b boys and b girls love warehouses. but this location at the park has alot of history for the japanese breakdancers . you can go anytime of the day or night and they will be there training .
 
ok nagai park must be enourmous than how bout the shots? coz from my experience bboy video's the use martin show light to add effect scalfolding would be good to hang big lights unless u have a moscow light ! u may even attempt to wet the floor a bit and hang colourful bulbs for nice reflection effect esp thru low angles!
 
the thing is were tring to make it look as natural as it can be there will be 3 bboys batteling 3 bgirls so it must look like a street compation.
 
ok got wat u mean kenji san! streetlight and well light maybe u wana try odaiba i tink just next to hotel nikko tokyo loadsa street light background tokyo bridge nice place just need filler light my man or anotha way is gain 6db and add a little filler to it definitely does the trick but grainy thou or u can just hang lightbulbs on wire and make around 5 m each cheap and natural!:)
 
Natural is based on the mood or the beat of the scene. Is it tense, fun, in your face, combative, competative? Once you decide that then you can start your lighting plan, for instance if it is tense, I'd create pools of lights by spotting lighhts from up high then use some bounce where there faces will be available to the camera. Then have your actors work in and out of light pools, the rate that they work in and out of the light and intensity of the light can help build intensity in the scene until you come to the climax of the scene. If it is fun then you want even and bright lighting, which will require a lot of flood lighting.
 
at first it will be a tense scene then the breakdown will be in slow motion and then the build up will be the bgirls going off with mad skills and near the end the bboys and the bgirls will start to battel rock togather then the scene fades away while the cam pans out. i was thinking like what you said about the light we will light it at an angle and at another angle bounce a small light to take care of any shadows . do you think that will be good enough?? tomorrow ill post a pic of the scene and maybe you can tell me what you think .thank you for your advice
 
It's really hard to say specifics without knowing the layout/equipment/story and all the rest that needs to go into consideration. It sounds like you have a plan in mind, try it, evaluate it and see if thats what you want. When ever I'm not sure I always try to tst before hand.
 
haha no mr kenji been to japan 4 a shoot there 4 9days in tokyo! ok u shld use soft lights to make it look natural would loved to see the plan thou
 
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